The present invention relates to an arrangement for feeding of animals, in particular pigs, kept in a free-range herd. The arrangement comprises a carrousel divided into a number of feeding enclosures so that a large number of animals may be individually fed automatically within a small area. The invention may in particular be applied to feeding animals that are being bred for meat production, i.e. for slaughtering, but it may advantageously be applied to feeding of sows, cows, etc.
It is known to feed sows on an individual basis, wherein the amount and composition of feed depends on a number of circumstances, mainly regarding whether the sow is pregnant, is nursing piglets, etc. The sows may be equipped with a transponder, often placed in an earmark, for individual automatic identification of the sow. The identification may be used for automatic individual feeding of sows, for separation of the sow for insemination or for farrowing, etc.
Porkers, herein meaning pigs that are bred for meat production, i.e. for slaughtering, are today in modern meat production fed as a bulk and individual feeding of the animals may only be provided manually. The animals are typically kept in groups of 15-20 animals. However, if the animals are kept in larger herds, more that 50 animals but often even much more, stronger or more aggressive animals will tend to keep other animals away from the common feeding bowls, resulting in a large deviation in size and weight of pigs of similar ages. This has the effect that a herd of porkers of similar age may reach the desired final weight over a period of several week, thus letting the production means for raising the porkers be more or less idle over most of the period. Furthermore, the feed is utilised less effectively by the porkers that are not fed properly, resulting in higher consumption of feed per kilogram meat produced. Also, the use of arrangements for automating the slaughtering process partly or completely is tremendously simplified if animals of a highly uniform weight can be produced. Finally, the health of the badly fed porkers may suffer from the conditions.
Known arrangements for individual feeding of animals are expensive to purchase for a larger herd of animals, in particular arrangements wherein each animal is identified, since each unit may only feed one animal at a time. Such arrangements take up plenty of square-metres of area relatively to the number of animals in the herd because each arrangement has a separate inlet and outlet for the animals.
The above-mentioned problems are of special importance for out-door breeding of porkers, which presents the added problem of the exposure of the animals to the temperature and wind speed variations of the open air environment, calling for adjustment of the amount of feed. However, the invention is applicable to free-range breeding of porkers and other animal indoor as well as outdoor, and the problem of variations in environmental temperature for the animals may also occur with indoor breeding, but usually to a less extent than with outdoor breeding.
A feeding apparatus for individual feeding of animals is disclosed in GB 2 220 834 in which the animals are simultaneous weighted and fed in the same enclosure and the feed is dispersed according to the animal""s weight. In particular, a feeding carrousel capable of carrying up to 12 animals each in one enclosure on the carrousel at one time is disclosed in which a load cell determines the total weight of the carrousel and the animals thereon and the weight of an animal entering an enclosure of the carrousel is computed from the change in the total weight. An exit gate from the enclosure is opened when the animal is expected to have finished eating and the animal may be urged to leave the enclosure, but no means for urging the animal are disclosed.
Another apparatus for automatic, individual feeding of animals is disclosed in DE 37 01 864 in which the animals are weighted and/or identified at one station from which each animal is selectively lead to one of a plurality of individual feeding pens, is lead back to the stock if they have been fed or is lead to a separation area by means of moving or turning the weighting/identification station between the different destinations. The identification of the animals is made by means of an identification tag fastened to each animal and the amount of feed in the feeding pens is measured out for the individual animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,923 discloses an automatic animal feeding system, in particular for cows, in which the animals are fed individually upon identification of the animal from automatically reading of an identification tag attached to each of the animals. The amount of feed provided to the animal is based on information collected about each animal, such as the animal""s weight. The animal may be weighted manually where after the weight is entered into the control system, or the animals may be weighted automatically on a commonly accessible scale which periodically measured the weight of the animal, on scales provided in the feeding pens or on scales provided in the parlour stalls.
An automatic feeding pen for animals is disclosed in WO 91/03930 in which the animals can eat individually and the identity of the animal is recorded together with the amount of feed consumed so at to monitor the amount of feedstock taken by each animal. Each of the animals is provided with a transmitting device to enable individual identification of the animals.
GB 2 232 053 relates to a system for feeding free-range sows provided with a transponder each. The system comprises an antenna, which registers passing sows and communicates with a computer, which selects whether the sow should be fed. If so, the sow is allowed to enter a receiving area in front of the feeding machines. The amount of food available to the sows may be set to an individual level for each animal and the amount of feed consumed by each animal is monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,647 relates to an. automated method and system for providing individual animal electronic identification, measurement and value based management of cattle in a large cattle feedlot. Animals are individually identified and measured by weight, external dimensions and characteristics of internal body tissue. The individual identification and registration of the cattle with respect to physical and other information is used for calculating the optimal time for slaughtering. There is no mentioning of an individual feeding of the cattle or feeding means and the cattle are fed directly on the ground in the herd.
The carrousel disclosed in GB 2 220 834 is advantageous because a large number of animals may be individually fed automatically within a small area. However, the disclosed method of determining the weight of the individual animal, which is an important parameter for determining the overall condition of the animal and for determining the amount of fed to be dispersed to the animal, has shown to have some disadvantages. It is difficult to obtain a precise measure of the weight of a platform that is turning due to vibrations from the drive means and the animals on the platform are at the same time moving around and disturbing the measurement further. It is also difficult to perform regular calibration of the scale in a non-loaded state because it demands a halt of the operation of the carrousel for a longer period as the feeding enclosures must be emptied. Another disadvantage is that a separation of the animals based on their weight requires two outlets from the carrousel, one outlet leading to the common area for the herd and one outlet leading to a separation area, e.g. as shown in GB 2 220 834.
Another problem to be solved for the above carrousel is that experience has shown that the animals and in particular pigs are not by themselves urged to leave the feeding enclosures on the carrousel at the right time. On the contrary, the animals try to stay near the feeding bowl although it is emptied and disturb thereby the operation of the feeding arrangement.
Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an arrangement for individual feeding of animals that is of compact form and takes up a minimum of area in which the weight of the individual animal is determined in a reliable manner prior to entering the arrangement.
In particular, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an arrangement for individual feeding of animals in a number of feeding enclosures arranged on a turning platform in which each of the animals are weighted separately before they enter the platform.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an arrangement for individual feeding of animals in a number of feeding enclosures arranged on a turning platform which arrangement comprises means for expelling an animal from each of the enclosures when the enclosure is in an outlet angular position.
It is a further objective to provide an arrangement comprising means for identifying the individual pig upon passing the inlet.
It is a still further objective to provide an arrangement in which the animals may be separated for slaughtering, for insemination, due to illness etc. after the weighing or in connection with the weighing but before they are lead to the feeding enclosures.
Thus, the present invention relates to an arrangement for individual feeding of animals of a herd comprising
a plurality of enclosures each of a size suitable for comprising one of the animals and being arranged on a platform which may turn about a substantially vertical axis, each enclosure having an opening and means for selectively switching the opening between a for the animals passable state and a non-passable state,
drive means for rotating the platform,
supply means for supplying feed to each of said enclosures,
an inlet through which the animals may enter into each one of the enclosures when the opening of said enclosure is in a given inlet angular position, means for selectively allowing animals to pass the inlet, the inlet being so arranged that the animals may only enter the arrangement when in operation by passing the inlet, and
an outlet through which the animals may exit from each one of the enclosures when the opening of said enclosure is in a given outlet angular position.
In a preferred embodiment, the arrangement further comprises an weighting enclosure of a size suitable for comprising one of the animals, in which the above described inlet of the arrangement according to one embodiment forms the inlet of the weighting enclosure and the weighting enclosure in an alternative embodiment is arranged between the platform and a common outlet, the weighting enclosure having means for selectively allowing an animal within the enclosure to leave the weighting enclosure and having means for determining the weight of the animal and means for transmitting the weight to control means for controlling the operation of the arrangement, the weighting enclosure being so arranged that animals may only enter, respectively leave, the arrangement when in operation by passing through the weighting enclosure.
Alternatively or additionally, the weighting enclosure may further comprise means for determining at least one of the following characteristics of each animal passing the arrangement and for transmitting the at least one characteristic to the control means:
a) a temperature of the animal measured by means of a sensor,
b) a thickness of the fat layer on the back of the animal, and
c) an image obtained by means of a camera.
The temperature may e.g. be a skin temperature of the animal measured from the infra red radiation from the animal or the body temperature of the animal measured by means of a sensor mounted on the animal. An image of the animal may, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,647 be used for computing characteristics of e.g. the meat quality or the meat/fat ratio and distribution.
In another preferred embodiment, the arrangement with or without the weighting enclosure comprises expelling means for expelling an animal from each one of the plurality of enclosures when the opening of said enclosure is in the outlet angular position.
Advantageously, the arrangement comprises means for performing a unique identification of each animal of the herd, the means being arranged so as to allow for identification of an animal before letting it into the arrangement. The identification is performed automatically and the identification means on each animal may be the eyes or other natural but unique characteristic of the animal or it may be a mark bearing a code, such as a visual code like a bar code, a letter code or other visual signs. However, in a preferred embodiment, the arrangement comprises
a plurality of transponders each having a unique identification code, each animal of the herd being equipped with a transponder for individual identification, and
a transceiver for reading the identification codes of the transponders, the transceiver being arranged near the common inlet so as to allow for identification of an animal before letting it into the arrangement.
Furthermore, the arrangement may further comprising means for selectively separating identified animals having passed the common inlet to at least one separation enclosure. The reason for separation may be that the animal is to be slaughtered, is ill or, if the herd comprises sows, is in heat and should be inseminated, is about to farrow etc.
The most simple and preferred way of switching between the passable state and the non-passable state of the opening of each of the plurality of enclosures is by performing the switching by the rotational movement of the platform, i.e. without the use of movable gates or doors.
In order to prevent the animals from getting wedged between part on the platform and stationary parts exterior to the platform, it is advantageous that the arrangement further comprises
monitoring means for monitoring the load on the drive means and producing an output accordingly, and
drive control means for selectively halting the operation of the drive means in response to the output from the monitoring means.
For safety reason and in order to make the arrangement operational without the possibility for immediate human interaction in case of malfunctions, the arrangement may be equipped with safety means for automatically allowing animals within the arrangement to leave the arrangement, and safety control means to activate said safety means in response to malfunction of the arrangement that otherwise would entrap any of the animals in the arrangement. In a simple version, each animal is allowed to eat the amount it desires when being alone in the feeding enclosure. However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control means controlling the operation of the arrangement may control the amount of and optionally the type of feed supplied to the individual identified animal. The type of feed may be a mixture of different types of feed supplied from a number of feed containers.
It is advantageous that the supply of feed to the individual animal can be adjusted according to the environmental condition for indoor as well as outdoor breeding of pigs but the environmental conditions are naturally of higher importance for outdoor breeding. Thus, the arrangement may comprise means for adjusting the amount of feed supplied to the individual animal according to the temperature and optionally the wind speed the animals are subjected to.
The arrangement may be used for several types of animals, such as sheep, cattle and ostriches, but the arrangement according to the invention is in particular suitable for individual feeding of pigs, especially porkers.
The control unit may further comprise means for determining whether an identified animal should be separated from the herd and means for activating separation means unit so as to separate said animal from the weighting enclosure into a separation enclosure.
Furthermore, for embodiments in which a temperature of the identified animal is determined automatically within the weighting enclosure the separation of the identified animal may be effected by the control unit in response to the determined temperature of said animal.
The control unit may in a further preferred embodiment be at least temporarily connected via a data communication network to a remote surveillance system whereby the operation of the control unit may be remotely monitored and at least partially controlled.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.